X-102.3's McCrazy Experience was the poll winner for most popular local show.

In one of the most hotly contested battles we’ve seen in Taking Your Pulse’s short history, X-102.3’s McCrazy Experience emerged as favorite local radio morning show.

It was a tough battle – we heard about several shows campaigning its listeners to vote, and boy, did you. This was our most popular poll to date, with 1,909 votes, so thank you all very much for taking part.

X-102’s show, featuring Mark McCrazy and his cast of characters, ended up with 24.7 percent of the vote, just ahead of the show for 103.1 The Buzz, Loper & Randi, at 17.4 percent.

Finishing in third was Real Radio 94.3’s Paul and Young Ron at 14 percent, while Kevin, Virginia & Jason of Wild 95.5 were fourth at 10.4 percent. Rounding out the top five was Deena and Jennifer of WRMF at 8.4 percent.

Write-in votes were hugely significant in this poll – votes for Kevin, Virginia & Jason forced us to keep the poll open a second week, while there were also groundswell’s for Seaview Radio’s Cup of Joe and WDJA 1420 AM’s Dick Farrel.

Click here for the full results.

Actress Jo Ann Pflug (“MASH,” “The Fall Guy”), who hosts an eponymous radio show on local Seaview Radio, is doing a special 9/11 anniversary episode on Sept. 10. Like most, it’ll be a tribute to those who lost their lives, as well as a way for those left behind to share their memories. Pflug’s show will feature Sonia Tita Puopolo, whose mother died in the first plane to strike the World Trade Center, as well as personal stories from several other people.

Among those talking about their 9/11 memories: Singer Pat Boone, State Farm Insurance’s Steve Douglas, and Terry Rose of the Old Dixie Cafe. Jo Ann will also be doing a segment on Grandparent’s Day, which also happens to be on September 11. Her focus will be grandparents who adopt and raise their grandchildren. “The Jo Ann Pflug” show is heard Saturday mornings at 11 a.m. on 106.9 FM, 95.9 FM and 960 AM.

Editor’s Note: We made a big mistake — we left two major shows out of the poll: The Kevin and Virginia show on Wild 95.5 and the Cup of Joe show on Seaview Radio. This was an oversight by me, Jonathan Tully, and I’m taking full responsibility for it.

To the fans of both “Kevin & Virginia” and “Cup of Joe,” I apologize. Please vote. The results will be released on Sept. 12.

Some radio staples seem to be fading away, but the morning show is going pretty strong. As long as there’s a need for traffic, weather and a chance to take a bit of the edge off before work, the morning radio show will have its place.

We’d like to know your favorite. We’ve listed the top morning shows among Palm Beach County-based radio stations.

However, if you have a favorite that’s not listed, head to the bottom where it reads “other” and give us a write-in vote. If a show gets enough write-ins, we’ll add it to our poll.

Results will be available on Sept. 12.
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No question about it, our voters love their talk radio.

In our poll for favorite local AM station, Taking Your Pulse voters chose 850 WFTL by a decent margin.

The conservative talk station picked up 43.8 percent of the vote, finishing well ahead of 1280 WJNO (21.8 percent). Third place went to 640 Sports.

Click here for the full results.

AM radio used to be the only game in town when it came to finding entertainment — you tuned in for shows, news, music, everything.

These days, AM has changed dramatically — now it’s the home for opinion. You still have to tune into an AM station to hear the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Mike & Mike. You still have to check in to AM for a ballgame — most of the time anyway.

AM listeners, we want to hear from you. What’s your favorite AM station on the dial – and keep in mind, these are stations based in Palm Beach County only, so you won’t see the likes of WIOD from Miami or the superpowered 880 The Biz out of Sweetwater.

If you feel so strongly, however, that you want an out-of-area AM station to vote for, we’ve got the write-in spot just waiting for you.

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Through everything that life and the world of radio has thrown at Jennifer Ross, she refuses to be knocked down. (Brandon Kruse / Palm Beach Post)

Of all Jennifer Ross’ fans, the little guy hurtling toward her may be the most persistent in demanding her affections.

Squealing with joy, he launches himself at her legs – a 25-pound, thickly packed hunk of burning love for Ross, whose feet he proceeds to nuzzle with unalloyed ardor.

"Meet Poppy Chulo," she says, giving the potbellied pig a good scratching on the head.

Hearing her voice – and who doesn’t recognize that smoky contralto? – the rest of her menagerie, minus her two horses, bounds into the patio of her Palm City home. There’s Trixi, the Boston terrier; Annabelle, the Chihuahua-dachshund mix; and Toby, the 125-pound Saint Bernard puppy, who stretches to lick Ross’ face, almost knocking her over.

If he had, Ross has had plenty of experience in getting back up.

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Howard Stern announced earlier this week that he'd be staying with Sirius-XM Radio. (Bryan Bedder / Getty Images)

Back in October, I wondered about the future of Howard Stern. Yesterday on his Sirius XM Satellite Radio show, Stern shared the news that his fans have been waiting for: he’s decided to renew his deal with Sirius for another five years. The terms of the contract weren’t discussed, but needless to say Howard spoke about the deal in his typical style.

For the sake of “good radio”, he dragged out the announcement for about 30 minutes before finally revealing the good news to his fans and co-workers. Much of the last couple of months has been spent speculating what he would do and how it would affect the rest of his staff; some of that staff has been with Stern for 30 years. He would make it known that he worried about certain staff members because they were basically useless and couldn’t find another job. This made for some great comedy in the past few months. However, Stern’s loyalty can’t be questioned, and in fact part of his thinking process did take into account his employees. In the end, he maintained that he couldn’t imagine “not doing this” anymore.
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After all his threats to leave, and others’ speculation on where he might go, Howard Stern is staying put at Sirius XM.

The loose-lipped shock jock announced on his show Thursday that he has signed a new five-year contract with the satellite radio company.

The deal, which runs through the end of 2015, provides that Sirius XM can now transmit Stern’s show to mobile devices. No other terms will be disclosed, the company said.

Stern had been locked for months in stormy negotiations as his original five-year contract with Sirius radio, worth a breathtaking $500 million, neared its expiration just days from now. Sirius and then-rival XM radio merged in 2008.
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Juan Williams

Longtime news analyst Juan Williams, who has written extensively on race and civil rights, has been fired by NPR after saying on the Fox News Channel that he gets nervous when he sees people in Muslim garb on an airplane.

NPR issued a statement late Wednesday saying his contract as a senior news analyst was being terminated after Williams’ comments Monday on “The O’Reilly Factor.”

Host Bill O’Reilly brought on guests to discuss his own appearance last week on ABC’s “The View” during which Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in protest of O’Reilly’s views on Muslims.

“Where am I going wrong here, Juan?” O’Reilly asked.
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Howard Stern (right) and his wife, Beth Ostrosky. (AP)

In 2006 when Howard Stern decided to get out of the confining rat race that was terrestrial radio, he embarked on a journey into the unknown. With two months left on his five-year deal with Sirius XM Satellite Radio it remains a mystery as to where Stern may end up – if anywhere. The consensus is that Stern won’t disappear. The possibilities range from having an internet-only show that will cost less to subscribe to than the $13 a month it costs to have Sirius to simply doing the same show, but fewer hours.

Stern signed a huge contract, at least according to the mainstream media, with Sirius to basically do the same thing he’d done for the past 30 years: entertain, provoke, and continue to ridicule anyone who deserved it – and even those that didn’t. Only this time he could say whatever he wants without invoking the delay button. The five-year, $500 million contract has been downplayed by Stern over the years as an overblown number, but needless to say Stern is one of the highest paid “personalities” in show business.
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